Tears rolled down my face as I stared at the armors in front of me, all four of them lined up next to each other and covered with soot. The intense heat and the sheer force of the avalanche had left the once carefully polished metal in a pitiful state, one that would leave even the most seasoned blacksmith in shock.
With their armor looking like this, the men who had worn them when it all went down never stood a chance. There was only so much the defensive magic cast on them could do to help against a normal attack, even when combined with the metal they wore, but this hadn’t just been some random goblin using its magic. This had been so much more.
Minutes had passed since the intense battle had ended and we were still trying to grasp what exactly had happened to us. There was the account of one of the water mages who had been lucky enough to be standing far away from the path of destruction left behind by the monster’s attack, but the man had still been a shaking mess, to say the least. Even now, he was clutching his staff for protection while still staring at the remains of the ‘king of the mountain’ as he had called the wicked monster.
The two-tailed monster had run down the mountain in the wake of its own unstoppable attack, using the path of fire and destruction to make its entrance like walking on a red carpet. And with how the beast had stood there with its tails fanned out, I could easily understand why the mage called it that.
And it wasn’t just looking like royalty either, as the monster even fought the way a warrior king would, leading its own men or rather pack into battle after making its proud entrance. Compared to the smaller fire elementals who supported it with a long-ranged barrage of fire magic that exploded all around us, their two-tailed leader was fearlessly engaging the raid in a melee battle instead.
Maxwell, one of the more capable men under my command was in the literal heat of the battle, having been at the right place to challenge the monsters’ initial assault. The monsters, unfazed by his attempt to stop them, fearlessly used their bodies of liquid rock as a weapon, throwing themselves right against the paladin’s waiting shield. Almost immediately a cloud of steam hid the two from view as the water mage’s spell became undone with this single attack alone; and when I could finally see the two again, the duel had already tipped heavily in the monster’s favor, as the burning remains of Maxwell’s shield could be seen in the beast’s toothless maw.
Realizing the severity of the situation, Maxwell’s brothers-in-arms quickly came to his rescue, using their intact shields to ward off the monster’s next few attacks. Again and again, the beast attacked, rendering both shields and swords unusable, only for them to be blasted by dozens of spells coming at it from all directions - the mages had finally entered the battle.
The monster took all of their magic head-on, easily withstanding the colorful barrage as if it was a member of the undefeated dwarven royal guards; and just like the finest elite of the mountain folk, the creature simply shook its body in a moment of respite, ridding itself from the aftermath of the attack.
As dozens of black shards of glass rained down to the ground, the mages prepared their next wave of attack, although they were visibly fazed by the sheer tenacity their opponent showed them.
Two more such barrages impacted the beast with little to no effect. They only served to make the monster angrier, while also stopping it from making its way to Maxwell, who had somehow been selected as some sort of mortal enemy by the beast.
The monster was by no means alone in this fight, no, it had brought its own group of allies with it, as dozens of balls of fire now came raining down from the sky, turning the flowery meadow into a burning wasteland. It was only due to the lack of accuracy of the attacks and their predictability that we didn’t lose more members here, although there were still quite a few mages and paladins being hit by the explosions that occurred wherever the monster’s spells impacted the ground.
The blue mages couldn’t possibly be busier. Over and over again they shot balls of water and ink at the victims, extinguishing the fires that threatened to burn them alive. Needless to say, the men were not the slightest bit happy about being on the receiving end of the fiery barrage, which led to quite a few charging at the elementals and engaging them in a one-sided slaughter of a melee battle, with the monsters’ bodies allowing the swords to slice right through them, easily ending their lives.
Meanwhile, the earth monster in the pit was trapped in the remains of its own collapsed burrow, thus unable to avoid the magic spells that were ruthlessly tossed at it without a single moment of respite. One of the fire magicians, who I knew was good friends with two of the victims, personally took it upon himself to dispatch the monster with a flurry of fireballs. It only took seconds for the beast’s rough body to give in, its earthen shape no longer able to hold itself together.
Even though both its comrades and the earth monster were quickly dispatched with a few attacks each, the lava elemental was a far tougher opponent, easily having withstood dozens of attacks by the time the raid’s entire attention was on it.
Still, with both the various schools of magic and swords being highly ineffective, we found ourselves in a painful stalemate, one that was only lifted when the two water magic users, both of them merely selected for their healing capabilities, as well as the ink magic user Sarah who had joined us solely due to her superior artistic talents, joined in with their supposedly useless attacks.
Torrents of water and ink were now splashing against the seemingly unbeatable monster, stopping it right in its tracks and making it yelp in pain and fear. A thick cloud of steam soon hid the fiery silhouette, but the three mages were not yet done with their opponent, as more and more blasts of black and blue were shooting towards the hidden monster. Their anger only stopped when one of them dropped to the ground, having spent all of his mana on bringing down the supposed king of the mountain.
Silence now spread as all of the raid members stared at the white thick cloud of steam that still hid our opponent. It was only when a gust of wind revealed its remains that I could hear myself breathe out a sigh of relief. The monster had died the same way it had fought; standing proud like royalty, its entirely black corpse almost looking like one of the statues that had guarded the dungeon’s prayer site.
Still, Maxwell did not have enough, especially since he almost lost his life several times over in this single fight alone. The now weaponless paladin walked over to the solidified monster and punished it with a fierce kick, immediately shattering its remains and uncovering a fist-sized magic crystal that had hidden deep in its body.
With four of us having ended up dead, nobody celebrated when the monster broke into a thousand pieces right in front of us. For my men to be left without even a corpse to bury? That was unacceptable! How would I ever find the words to explain this to their families and friends!? And what was that godforsaken girl handing us flowers for? So those mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters could watch them slowly wither away?!
The dungeon avatar was in no state to give us an answer. She was a shaking mess herself, making it plenty obvious she was overwhelmed by the results of her own actions. The girl was trying to say something, but her attempt was quickly stopped by the men and women closing in on her after having found the chance to grasp just who it was that had seemingly caused all of this mess. With the monster done, their anger quickly turned against the girl who was an easy outlet for their feelings given she was far too weak to protect herself.
Luckily, the mob found no chance to acquire the ire of the dungeon's patron goddess, as Marisa and Alfred ensured that the situation couldn't escalate further. Both the paladin and Cilia's champion were using their own bodies as a living shield without thinking twice about it, giving me the few moments it took to get the surviving raid in order again.
Naturally, I was just as angry as them, I was livid even, but the commander in me knew that death was a possibility even with a group as large as ours. Then there was also the fact that the dungeon avatar in question was performing both her duty as its goddess’ left hand as well as the mother to all of those monsters. She had warned us, using quite harsh words even, and I hadn’t listened, thinking of it as something to joke about instead.
With four of us dead, the exploration raid could already be considered a failure, especially with us losing our brothers-in-arms in a newly born dungeon which was an almost unheard-of tragedy. Still, we could only continue, both to fulfill our duties and to honor our fallen comrades who had given their last breaths to do the same.
Reluctantly, I ordered the remaining raid members to gather around their fallen comrades’ armor before personally gathering the white flowers, making sure to not mix them up in the process. If this was everything that remained of the men, I would at least make sure their loved ones would receive the right flowers.
“Should we really continue,” I heard Deluc ask.
Murmurs made the round as the raid members began discussing this option. I could only sigh upon hearing all of their voices. A part of me was ready to give up, sure, but could we leave the dungeon with nothing in our hands after having paid such a hefty price? My heart couldn't bare the thought.
Still, I left the matter to the other members of the raid to decide: “I will personally teach the girl who is the boss,” I told them. “Who is with me?”
A dozen hands were raised into the air. Especially the men who had trained and served under me were ready and eager to get revenge for their friends and comrades, the adventurers we had merely paid for their services, however, were more than reluctant to risk their lives for men they hadn’t ever met before to find a peaceful rest.
“We should continue,” Sarah’s voice could be heard after a deafening moment of silence.
I immediately turned towards the ink mage, more than surprised about the fact that the sole non-combatant in the raid was making the case to continue our delve.
“The monster caught us by surprise,” she summed up the fight. “If we just have someone watch the mountaintop for danger, we should have enough time to dodge such attacks.”
“The monster faced our barrage without even flinching,” one of the mages protested. “It would have laughed at us if it could!”
“Have us handle the big one,” the ink mage suddenly suggested before pointing at the other two blue mages. “You take care of the small ones!”
“She is right,” one of the men added with a nod, “The monsters are weak against blue magic. They don’t stand a chance without the element of surprise.”
I couldn’t help but breathe out a sigh of relief as the morale of the adventurers was lifted solely by the obvious boasting of the blue mages. Not wanting to have their manliness and honor being questioned by healers and a painter, the men suddenly were very eager to continue with the delve, and I readily added to their refreshed enthusiasm by, additionally to their already received payment, promising to share all loot we would find among all participants, including the families of the four we had lost.
It was unlikely we would find treasure chests in a dungeon this young, meaning coins and artifacts were out of the question, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to be gained from fighting our way through the monsters, as every single one we had dispatched had dropped a magic crystal.
These crystals were highly sought after as they were charged with pure elemental magic that could be used to craft new weapons and artifacts as well as fuel existing ones. Even the beast-like fire elementals that hadn’t lasted longer than a few seconds under a paladin’s or mage’s focused attack had dropped such a crystal without fail, meaning that if the path and rooms ahead of us had similar-sized groups of monsters waiting there was quite the sum of money at stake.
It went without saying that the blue mages’ assurance and my offer lifted the mood of the raid members quite a bit, so much so in fact that every last one of them accepted to continue the exploration raid before long. I couldn’t help but smile as I personally led them around the volcano, always following the gravel path the dungeon avatar had provided us with. Deluc, meanwhile, had his eyes glued to the volcano, always ready to warn us should one of the fiery monsters appear to attack us with another avalanche.
We wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Tears rolled down my face as I stared at the armors in front of me, all four of them lined up next to each other and covered with soot. The intense heat and the sheer force of the avalanche had left the once carefully polished metal in a pitiful state, one that would leave even the most seasoned blacksmith in shock.
With their armor looking like this, the men who had worn them when it all went down never stood a chance. There was only so much the defensive magic cast on them could do to help against a normal attack, even when combined with the metal they wore, but this hadn’t just been some random goblin using its magic. This had been so much more.
Minutes had passed since the intense battle had ended and we were still trying to grasp what exactly had happened to us. There was the account of one of the water mages who had been lucky enough to be standing far away from the path of destruction left behind by the monster’s attack, but the man had still been a shaking mess, to say the least. Even now, he was clutching his staff for protection while still staring at the remains of the ‘king of the mountain’ as he had called the wicked monster.
The two-tailed monster had run down the mountain in the wake of its own unstoppable attack, using the path of fire and destruction to make its entrance like walking on a red carpet. And with how the beast had stood there with its tails fanned out, I could easily understand why the mage called it that.
And it wasn’t just looking like royalty either, as the monster even fought the way a warrior king would, leading its own men or rather pack into battle after making its proud entrance. Compared to the smaller fire elementals who supported it with a long-ranged barrage of fire magic that exploded all around us, their two-tailed leader was fearlessly engaging the raid in a melee battle instead.
Maxwell, one of the more capable men under my command was in the literal heat of the battle, having been at the right place to challenge the monsters’ initial assault. The monsters, unfazed by his attempt to stop them, fearlessly used their bodies of liquid rock as a weapon, throwing themselves right against the paladin’s waiting shield. Almost immediately a cloud of steam hid the two from view as the water mage’s spell became undone with this single attack alone; and when I could finally see the two again, the duel had already tipped heavily in the monster’s favor, as the burning remains of Maxwell’s shield could be seen in the beast’s toothless maw.
Realizing the severity of the situation, Maxwell’s brothers-in-arms quickly came to his rescue, using their intact shields to ward off the monster’s next few attacks. Again and again, the beast attacked, rendering both shields and swords unusable, only for them to be blasted by dozens of spells coming at it from all directions - the mages had finally entered the battle.
The monster took all of their magic head-on, easily withstanding the colorful barrage as if it was a member of the undefeated dwarven royal guards; and just like the finest elite of the mountain folk, the creature simply shook its body in a moment of respite, ridding itself from the aftermath of the attack.
As dozens of black shards of glass rained down to the ground, the mages prepared their next wave of attack, although they were visibly fazed by the sheer tenacity their opponent showed them.
Two more such barrages impacted the beast with little to no effect. They only served to make the monster angrier, while also stopping it from making its way to Maxwell, who had somehow been selected as some sort of mortal enemy by the beast.
The monster was by no means alone in this fight, no, it had brought its own group of allies with it, as dozens of balls of fire now came raining down from the sky, turning the flowery meadow into a burning wasteland. It was only due to the lack of accuracy of the attacks and their predictability that we didn’t lose more members here, although there were still quite a few mages and paladins being hit by the explosions that occurred wherever the monster’s spells impacted the ground.
The blue mages couldn’t possibly be busier. Over and over again they shot balls of water and ink at the victims, extinguishing the fires that threatened to burn them alive. Needless to say, the men were not the slightest bit happy about being on the receiving end of the fiery barrage, which led to quite a few charging at the elementals and engaging them in a one-sided slaughter of a melee battle, with the monsters’ bodies allowing the swords to slice right through them, easily ending their lives.
Meanwhile, the earth monster in the pit was trapped in the remains of its own collapsed burrow, thus unable to avoid the magic spells that were ruthlessly tossed at it without a single moment of respite. One of the fire magicians, who I knew was good friends with two of the victims, personally took it upon himself to dispatch the monster with a flurry of fireballs. It only took seconds for the beast’s rough body to give in, its earthen shape no longer able to hold itself together.
Even though both its comrades and the earth monster were quickly dispatched with a few attacks each, the lava elemental was a far tougher opponent, easily having withstood dozens of attacks by the time the raid’s entire attention was on it.
Still, with both the various schools of magic and swords being highly ineffective, we found ourselves in a painful stalemate, one that was only lifted when the two water magic users, both of them merely selected for their healing capabilities, as well as the ink magic user Sarah who had joined us solely due to her superior artistic talents, joined in with their supposedly useless attacks.
Torrents of water and ink were now splashing against the seemingly unbeatable monster, stopping it right in its tracks and making it yelp in pain and fear. A thick cloud of steam soon hid the fiery silhouette, but the three mages were not yet done with their opponent, as more and more blasts of black and blue were shooting towards the hidden monster. Their anger only stopped when one of them dropped to the ground, having spent all of his mana on bringing down the supposed king of the mountain.
Silence now spread as all of the raid members stared at the white thick cloud of steam that still hid our opponent. It was only when a gust of wind revealed its remains that I could hear myself breathe out a sigh of relief. The monster had died the same way it had fought; standing proud like royalty, its entirely black corpse almost looking like one of the statues that had guarded the dungeon’s prayer site.
Still, Maxwell did not have enough, especially since he almost lost his life several times over in this single fight alone. The now weaponless paladin walked over to the solidified monster and punished it with a fierce kick, immediately shattering its remains and uncovering a fist-sized magic crystal that had hidden deep in its body.
With four of us having ended up dead, nobody celebrated when the monster broke into a thousand pieces right in front of us. For my men to be left without even a corpse to bury? That was unacceptable! How would I ever find the words to explain this to their families and friends!? And what was that godforsaken girl handing us flowers for? So those mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters could watch them slowly wither away?!
The dungeon avatar was in no state to give us an answer. She was a shaking mess herself, making it plenty obvious she was overwhelmed by the results of her own actions. The girl was trying to say something, but her attempt was quickly stopped by the men and women closing in on her after having found the chance to grasp just who it was that had seemingly caused all of this mess. With the monster done, their anger quickly turned against the girl who was an easy outlet for their feelings given she was far too weak to protect herself.
Luckily, the mob found no chance to acquire the ire of the dungeon's patron goddess, as Marisa and Alfred ensured that the situation couldn't escalate further. Both the paladin and Cilia's champion were using their own bodies as a living shield without thinking twice about it, giving me the few moments it took to get the surviving raid in order again.
Naturally, I was just as angry as them, I was livid even, but the commander in me knew that death was a possibility even with a group as large as ours. Then there was also the fact that the dungeon avatar in question was performing both her duty as its goddess’ left hand as well as the mother to all of those monsters. She had warned us, using quite harsh words even, and I hadn’t listened, thinking of it as something to joke about instead.
With four of us dead, the exploration raid could already be considered a failure, especially with us losing our brothers-in-arms in a newly born dungeon which was an almost unheard-of tragedy. Still, we could only continue, both to fulfill our duties and to honor our fallen comrades who had given their last breaths to do the same.
Reluctantly, I ordered the remaining raid members to gather around their fallen comrades’ armor before personally gathering the white flowers, making sure to not mix them up in the process. If this was everything that remained of the men, I would at least make sure their loved ones would receive the right flowers.
“Should we really continue,” I heard Deluc ask.
Murmurs made the round as the raid members began discussing this option. I could only sigh upon hearing all of their voices. A part of me was ready to give up, sure, but could we leave the dungeon with nothing in our hands after having paid such a hefty price? My heart couldn't bare the thought.
Still, I left the matter to the other members of the raid to decide: “I will personally teach the girl who is the boss,” I told them. “Who is with me?”
A dozen hands were raised into the air. Especially the men who had trained and served under me were ready and eager to get revenge for their friends and comrades, the adventurers we had merely paid for their services, however, were more than reluctant to risk their lives for men they hadn’t ever met before to find a peaceful rest.
“We should continue,” Sarah’s voice could be heard after a deafening moment of silence.
I immediately turned towards the ink mage, more than surprised about the fact that the sole non-combatant in the raid was making the case to continue our delve.
“The monster caught us by surprise,” she summed up the fight. “If we just have someone watch the mountaintop for danger, we should have enough time to dodge such attacks.”
“The monster faced our barrage without even flinching,” one of the mages protested. “It would have laughed at us if it could!”
“Have us handle the big one,” the ink mage suddenly suggested before pointing at the other two blue mages. “You take care of the small ones!”
“She is right,” one of the men added with a nod, “The monsters are weak against blue magic. They don’t stand a chance without the element of surprise.”
I couldn’t help but breathe out a sigh of relief as the morale of the adventurers was lifted solely by the obvious boasting of the blue mages. Not wanting to have their manliness and honor being questioned by healers and a painter, the men suddenly were very eager to continue with the delve, and I readily added to their refreshed enthusiasm by, additionally to their already received payment, promising to share all loot we would find among all participants, including the families of the four we had lost.
It was unlikely we would find treasure chests in a dungeon this young, meaning coins and artifacts were out of the question, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to be gained from fighting our way through the monsters, as every single one we had dispatched had dropped a magic crystal.
These crystals were highly sought after as they were charged with pure elemental magic that could be used to craft new weapons and artifacts as well as fuel existing ones. Even the beast-like fire elementals that hadn’t lasted longer than a few seconds under a paladin’s or mage’s focused attack had dropped such a crystal without fail, meaning that if the path and rooms ahead of us had similar-sized groups of monsters waiting there was quite the sum of money at stake.
It went without saying that the blue mages’ assurance and my offer lifted the mood of the raid members quite a bit, so much so in fact that every last one of them accepted to continue the exploration raid before long. I couldn’t help but smile as I personally led them around the volcano, always following the gravel path the dungeon avatar had provided us with. Deluc, meanwhile, had his eyes glued to the volcano, always ready to warn us should one of the fiery monsters appear to attack us with another avalanche.
We wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
